


An Angel's Tearful Smile

by orphan_account



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Fluff, angst isnt too heavy, just some girls being gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-23
Updated: 2017-08-23
Packaged: 2018-12-18 23:10:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11884824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: "My dad can't actually get me gifts but seeing you get flustered over me getting a poorly-made book from you is honestly the best thing I'll ever get as a present"





	An Angel's Tearful Smile

**Author's Note:**

> SHIT MAN ANGEL/GAIGE IS MY LOWKEY OTP AND THIS SHIT WILL KILL ME AHHHHHHHHHHH I NEED MORE OF THIS IN MY LIFE EXCUSE ME AS I GO CRY OVER IT'S PURITY
> 
> sidenote: i may come back and reedit this who knows. i only did like two edits so *shrug*

One ring. Two rings. Three rings.

Angel was starting to give up at this point. the out dated echo in her hands being laid down on the floor. Why does she even bother? She knew Gaige was most likely sleeping by now, exhausted from the fight with Wilhelm that took place earlier that day. Fumbling with her braid, Angel started to busy herself with the monitors that surrounded her. That’s when the ringing stopped and a screen was projected up from the echo. On the other end was a sleepy Gaige.

Her pigtails had been undone and let all that red hair run free. The strands were surprisingly puffy like a lion’s mane, encasing her face to the point where Angel couldn’t even see some of her eyes. Gaige raced a hand to give a poorly executed two finger salute that failed halfway in and she accidentally poked her own nose. No matter if it was done on purpose or accident it made Angel laugh. 

“ _ ‘Sup? _ ” Gaige’s questionable greeting was laced with exhaustion, Angel trying to ignore the bubbly feeling in her chest. The siren picked up the old device and sat back with both knees pulled to her chest. She couldn’t help noticing the makeshift bandages around Gaige’s neck and a few on her cheek. “ _ Isn’t it a bit late for you to call? _ ”

“Yes, I realize that now,” Angel admitted, her lips tugging into a slight smile at the laugh her companion let out. She was most likely thinking about how ‘rebellious’ this is for the ‘super high tech and fancy artificial intelligence lady.’ The siren rested a cheek on her kneecap. “Isn't it a bit late for you to answer? Wouldn’t Axton be mad?” Angel didn’t know much about what the Vault Hunters did in their free time, but from all the echo calls and communication between them, she knew Gaige became very attached to Axton and Zer0. Like adopted fathers or brothers.

_ “Psh, don’t worry ‘bout him. He’s not my dad and besides, _ ” she pointed both thumbs towards herself and blew some hair away from her mouth. “ _ I’m an adult, _ ” technically she was not  _ wrong _ , but it still made Angel inwardly chuckle. Gaige started shifting around so she was sitting up.  _ “No, but really why are you calling? _ ”

“What was- well, is- your father like?” The question was hesitantly asked out, Angel still thinking over the million of other ways she could’ve asked it. Even though she’d had practiced the lines earlier that day she would never be prepared for the real thing. “I- I understand if it’s a sensitive topic and-”

“ _ My old man’s pretty ok, _ ” Gaige interrupted Angel’s rambling and ran a hand back through the mess called hair, glaring at something that must’ve gotten stuck and tossing it away. Someone- Angel identified the voice as Salvador- tiredly shot an insult back and fell back to sleep after. 

The mechromancer took this as her sign to leave, Angel patiently waiting until a door was shut and she could see the night sky behind Gaige who was sitting down again. “ _ He was a single father and always wanted me to be happy. He’d do anything for me and spoiled me a lot. I guess you could call me a Daddy’s Girl, _ ” she started laughing, the sound labeled maniacal by her comrades but Angel found it another trait she lo- respected. Yes, Angel  _ respected _ Gaige’s very nice laugh. “ _ How come you're asking? _ ”

“I, um, my father wasn’t the best father,” this was not the right time. She had only known Gaige for a few weeks and if she told her the truth who knows what would happen. Gaige had a big mouth and gave off secrets even if she didn’t mean to. It was hard enough admitting that she wasn’t exactly a normal AI programmed in a computer system. Luckily, Gaige accepted that she had been experimented on until she turned into ‘this’ but it still hurt lying to the girl. “He never was around much and he still never is. Kinda left me on my own for a big portion of my life.”

“ _ Sounds like an asshole, _ ” Gaige piped in, realizing what she had said and stumbling over her words. “ _ I mean if you love him that’s cool and all and I totally didn’t mean anything by that, but like you know- you know what I mean. _ ” Angel was left speechless, finding herself more and more intrigued by the teenager every day. She started to chuckle.

“Oh, don’t worry he’s an asshole,” no one she knew would even bother  _ thinking _ of calling Handsome Jack an asshole. Not even the scientists who were forced to check up on her treatment two times a day, working even off hours and getting barely a wink of sleep. To everyone in Hyperion, he’s a God- their savior- and no God could hold any faults. “But he wasn’t  _ always _ an asshole,” she could still remember the days of her youth spent with her mother and father. Those days spent doodling pictures of her happy family, wearing freshly sewn dresses from her mother, helping her father cook pancakes for breakfast, and making stinky faces at Tassiter when he yelled at Jack. “It just was when mother died things changed.”

“ _ What was your mom like? I never got to meet mine. _ ” Gaige scratched at her cheek with her robotic hand, Angel watching the wire shift around under the plates. Angel still had trouble understanding why Gaige never tried enhancing her arm or getting any modifications, but she knew the reason; it was her only souvenir from home.

“She was…” Angel trailed off, remembering her mother so vividly. The woman with eyes bluer than the sky above and wore cotton weaved dress that swayed when she danced. On rare occasions when Jack would sit in the bunker with Angel and  _ wasn’t _ boasting about himself or checking over her treatment he would compare her to the woman who had died so early in her life. Even after so many stories and so much research Angel could never see the resemblance. “Ironically an angel.” She finished, Gaige oddly silent and for once not cracking a joke or laughing.

“ _ I see. Well, at least you got the good genes from the good parent right? _ ” Even though her tone was light Angel knew the teen was trying to cheer her up in some way. “ _ Why the odd questions? _ ” There came the question she’d prepared for.

“It’s well… My birthday was today,” Angel admitted, remembering the  _ many _ presents Jack had bought her that she’d never been able to use. “It just made me question some things.”

“ _ Oh! I didn’t know Pandorans even had birthdays, _ ” she mused, fingers drumming along her chin and letting out a loud ‘hmm’ that made Angel question everything. “ _ Whatcha get _ ?”

“Pardon?”

“ _ You know; presents! Do you not get presents _ ?” Gaige tilted her to the side, green eyes wide with childish wonder. It was odd to think this girl created Deathtrap and was a murderer.

“No, I don’t,” Angel lied. Jack got her  _ numerous _ presents, but she just couldn’t use them. Nothing except scientists and himself were allowed in the bunker. She let out a sigh. “I wish I could’ve gotten something, but talking with you is all I need,” she started smiling when she saw Gaige’s excitement drop. “It’s nice having someone to talk with.” And, for the first time in what felt like centuries, Angel wasn’t lying. Gaige was the first person she had a real conversation with in years and was the first person who really made her regard her life options. Sure she had considered betraying Jack and escaping, but now with the mechromancer in her life things really seemed possible.

“ _ Well, Angel I- _ ” Gaige was cut off from finishing her sentence when a door opened. “ _ Zer0! Sh! Yes, this is important! I’m having a very very important business call right now, _ ” Angel tried not to laugh too hard. “ _ Hey, I gots to go, _ ” She was glaring towards the open door where the siren could just slightly see an emote. “ _ I’ll talk with you tomorrow during the mission briefing. Oh! And happy birthday! _ ” And she was gone. 

The echo call had been hung up and left Angel in the dark room, eridium continuing to pump into her legs and arms. She rubbed the now falling tears away with the back of her hand, tugging the monitor over so she could continue her research.

* * *

 

“Gaige, what is this? How did you get this here?” Angel held the odd paper-thing in her hands and watched Gaige’s face pop into the echo’s view. Her school jacket had been removed and both sleeves rolled up, frizzy red hair pulled back in a messy ponytail Angel could tell was Maya’s doing. The mechromancer took one look at what Angel held and then started grinning.

“ _ That, my dear Angel, is a sketchbook! I know it’s a bit late and your birthday was- what last week? Anyways, I thought I could get you something! Actually, I made it with Tiny Tina's help, _ ” Gaige started rubbing the back of her neck and- Angel’s eyes went wide. She was  _ blushing. _ The outspoken girl that laughed when a psycho’s head was severed from his body and when Salvador got too drunk till the point where he was stripping now was blushing because of  _ her. _ “ _ There is about fifty pages of blank space and Axton got some coffee stains on a couple. I tried covering them up, but that didn’t really work, _ ” out of curiosity, Angel started to gingerly flip through.

Near the middle were two pages with circular coffee stains that had what Angel guessed were different nuts-n-bolts doodled around them. “ _As for how I got it there. Well, a magician never shares her secrets,_ ” she winked. Angel silently stared at the odd little sketchbook in her hands, the cover smeared with some weirdly painted flower that had green petals and a purple stem. “ _Is it ok..?_ _Woah! Angel, you're crying! Holy shit is it really that bad?_ ”

“N- no! Oh, darn it,” Angel furiously wiped the tears away with the back of her sleeve, a small smile breaking through the tears. “Ga- Gaige this is. This is the best thing I’ve ever gotten! I  _ love _ it!” When she could finally see through all the tears it was the best sight she could’ve ever seen- better than the double rainbows and the Pandoran sunset. 

It was Gaige smiling, but it wasn’t not an ‘anarchy driven’ or ‘bloodlusting’ smile. Those lips with the slight cut in them from a previous fight were pulled into an adorable smile that made her pretty green eyes crinkle and made Angel’s heart stop. She wanted to kiss her.

“ _ Great! Oh shit! Hey, I gotta go because you called me in the middle of some updates I was running through Deathtrap's systems, but I’ll- Deathtrap! Mommy is talking to a very important person so calm your robotic titties! Argh, I really gotta go. Bye Angel! _ ” Gaige quickly waved to the screen, but before she could hang up Angel gave her a full smile. Not those half smiles at the silly banter the Vault Hunters have or the fake smiles she gave her father, but a  _ real _ smile. It made Gaige’s cheeks flare up with heat.

“Thank you, Gaige. I will talk with you later, yeah?” The siren tilted her head to the side a bit.

“ _ U- uh, yeah! Yeah, definitely! Bye, Angel! _ ” When Gaige hung up Angel didn’t feel alone in the bunker. She ran a thumb over the cover of her sketchbook, leaning back with a happy sigh. Then she remembered she had no pencil.

**Author's Note:**

> Got questions about the AU? Ideas to mention/request? Wanna talk this nerd? Hit me up over at [TheHobbitSenpai](http://thehobbitsenpai.tumblr.com/)


End file.
